Brrrrrr.....
I've borrowed an extra sweater from my sister, booked into the Yellow House for Saturday night, and made arrangements to go visit the reindeer. I'm excited and scared and happy and mellow and hoping, above all, that my digital camera doesn't freeze on the spot. Go here to see the current weather in F (for my American friends) and here to see the temperature in C (for my friends in the rest of the world). [Sorry, temperature links are down at Yahoo Weather. I guess not enough people are interested in the weather in Kiruna]

Hooray! I'm here!
Eternal thanks to A., who calmly talked me into getting on the damn plane, despite my buckets of tears and near hysteria. Eternal thanks, too, to Voicestream and to cellular telephones!
Yes, that was me in JFK Terminal 4 Wednesday evening, carrying on in a very undignified way. I cried solidly from the first boarding call, to about ten minutes after take off. In fact, I was crying so hard they let me board the plane early. And then I was fine. It wasn't so much fear, as a deep sadness for the people aboard those other planes, you know, in September.
So the presents are wrapped and under the tree, we've made some mincemeat tarts for Santa, and my mother has calculated that this is the first time in 15 years that my sister, both parents, and I have gathered for Christmas. More later...

Katie Sierra is a 15-year-old tenth grader in Charleston, West Virginia. She's become the subject of national media attention after her high school suspended her for anti-war sentiments and her desire to start a student anarchist club.
She was suspended for three days in October for defying school orders not to form an anarchy club or wear T-shirts that include slogans opposing the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.
The handwritten message on the T-shirt that got her in trouble read:

When I saw the dead and dying Afghani children on TV, I felt a newly recovered sense of national security. God Bless America.

• What you can do to support her


• Charleston Gazette story

Happy Birthday Melvil Dewey! Dewey, born December 10th, 1851, was a passionate advocate for reform in many arenas, including the metric system, temperance, tobacco, and spelling! He's probably best known, however, for the Dewey Decimal system.
I'm browsing 797.122 these days. Where will I find you?
[hats off to geoff harder for the birthday reminder]

A Poem for Rafi
You were all
tweed jackets,
the oxford english dictionary,
and 'all that jazz.'

You dreamt of cricket,
Los Angeles, aeroplanes.
Peace.

You made Dan Rather laugh
and that made me laugh

Whereas I,
I am
a wooly camel in spring,
I am
steamy mittens in melting snow,
I am
broken-hearted.

Rafi, I am so sorry.
I was the girl who opened her hands
and let the kites go.

[60 Minutes 2, broadcast date 12.5.01]

Pop Quiz: Identify the "Three Worst Problems of the Information Age."
Ken Thompson picks hunger, cruelty and death in his convocation speech for the GSLIS graduates of 1998. more

Have you visited the Peter Greenaway Public Library Project?

Reindeer tenderloin? A little post-x-mas get-away 200 km north of the Arctic Circle? In a hotel that melts every spring? Okay. Okay. I admit it. I'm getting excited. more

Some happier news. Gay.com reports that a lesbian couple will be listed in their US high school yearbook as "class sweethearts'' -- over the objections of the school principal.
Seniors at Dover High School overwhelmingly named Nicole Salisbury and Ashley Lagasse as "class sweethearts'' when the yearbook staff conducted its annual survey to name students to categories such as "most artistic'' or "nicest eyes''. Salisbury and Lagasse, both 17, have been a couple for more than two years.
Principal Robert Pedersen said the results were invalid because the ballots asked students to choose one male and one female for the "class sweethearts'' category, but following plans for a student petition, school superintendent Armand LaSelva stepped in and said the original results would stand.

Sunday. Woke up on half-read copies of An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan by Jason Elliot, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power by Daniel Yergin & Blind Spot by Judy Mercer. Elle Decoration and Oprah's mag. The cat. A pile of clean laundry from last Sunday, including my Elvis Presley beach towel. Note to self. Must put laundry away. Must find out if there really are herds of "wild camels" in Afghanistan. Down hallway to bathroom. Note to self. Must lose weight. Must get to gym. Must floss. Must pluck eyebrows. Must iron clothes. Don't forget camels. Too much. Perhaps, instead, I will phone some friends. No luck. All out or busy. Perhaps, a movie. Spy Game is playing at 2 pm. Bad choice. Pompous Americans. Slow motion scene of a suicide bombing. Beirut. 1985. Come home to the 6 o'clock news. More suicide bombers - not Hollywood ones this time. Real ones. In Haifa. And Jerusalem. I don't know how we make peace. I don't think I even know what it looks like. What can it look like to men with the histories of Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat? Note to self. Don't forget to find out about the camels.

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